Ed Gorman (writer)


Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was an American writer and short fiction anthologist. He published in almost every genre, but is best known for his work in the crime, mystery, western, and horror fields. His non-fiction work has been published in such publications as The New York Times and Redbook.
He contributed to many magazines and other publications, including Xero, Black Lizard, Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and the anthology Tales of Zorro.

Personal life

Gorman was born and grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he spent much of his adult life as well. He lived for extended periods in Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Chicago, Illinois. He was married twice, first to Catherine Anne Stevens for seven years. He next married Carol Gorman, an award-winning children's and young adult author. They were married thirty-four years until his death in 2016.

Writing career

After twenty-three years in advertising, public relations, writing political speeches and producing industrial films, Gorman published his first novel Rough Cut. Soon after he quit his day job and dedicated himself to writing full-time.
Gorman considered himself a genre writer. In the 1970s Gorman won a short story contest sponsored by Charles Scribner & Sons. An editor there suggested he expand his winning story into a mainstream novel, but Gorman gave up after six months, saying, “I was bored out of my mind. I am a genre writer.”
Gorman's novels and stories are often set in small Midwestern towns, such as the fictional Black River Falls, Iowa, or Cedar Rapids, Iowa. For his Dev Conrad series, Gorman drew upon his years as a political operative.
Gorman was one of the founders of Mystery Scene magazine, and served as editor and publisher until 2002. His column, “Gormania,” continues to appear regularly in its pages.
In comics, he has written for DC, Dark Horse, and most recently Short, Scary Tales, which will be publishing adaptations of his novel Cage of Night '' and the short story "Stalker".
Kirkus Reviews has called him "One of the most original crime writers around." The Bloomsbury Review noted: "He is the poet of dark suspense." The Oxford Book of American Crime Stories said: "His novels and stories provide fresh ideas, characters and approaches." Jon Breen at Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine once noted, "Ed Gorman has the same infallible readability as writers like Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, Donald E. Westlake, Ed McBain, and John D. MacDonald."
Though Gorman was long considered to be a "prolific" writer, his pace of production slowed markedly after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002; it was incurable but he fought it for 14 years.

Awards

Adaptations

His novel The Poker Club was adapted as a film in 2008 by director Tim McCann. His short stories “The Long Silence After” and “The Ugly File” were adapted as short films. In 2016, rights to his novel Cage of Night and short story “Stalker” were bought for adaptation as graphic novels, to be published by Short, Scary Tales.

Novels and short story

  • Guild
  • Graves' Retreat
  • The Poker Club
  • What the Dead Men Say
  • Night Kills
  • Cage of Night
  • Wolf Moon
  • Batman: I, Werewolf
  • Cold Blue Midnight
  • Black River Falls
  • Shadow Games
  • Cast in Dark Waters
  • Gun Truth
  • The Midnight Room
  • The Man From Nightshade Valley
  • The Prodigal Gun
  • Fast Track
  • ''Backshot''

    Short story collections

  • Prisoners and Other Stories
  • Cages
  • Moonchasers and Other Stories
  • Eye of the Beholder and Other Stories
  • Famous Blue Raincoat
  • Such a Good Girl and Other Crime Stories
  • The Dark Fantastic
  • Different Kinds of Dead and Other Tales
  • The Collected Ed Gorman, Volume One: Out There in the Darkness
  • The Collected Ed Gorman, Volume Two: The Moving Coffin
  • The End of it All and Other Stories
  • Noir 13
  • The Long Ride Back & Other Western Stories
  • Scream Queen and Other Tales of Menace
  • A Disgrace to the Badge & Other Western Stories
  • ''Shadow Games and Other Sinister Stories of Show Business''

    Uncollected Short Stories

  • Valentine from a Vampire
  • Drifter
  • The Man in the Long Black Sedan
  • Killing Kate
  • Dark Whispers
  • Team Effort
  • Selection Process
  • Night Cries
  • Trapped
  • Long Ride Back
  • Hunk
  • Fathers, Inc.
  • Playground
  • A Little Something to Believe In
  • The Man on the Third Floor
  • Dirty Coppers
  • I Know What the Night Knows
  • Track Down
  • My Father's Son
  • On the Run
  • Legends
  • The Gun Show
  • Sailing to Atlantis
  • Cast in Dark Waters
  • The Cries
  • Ghost of a Chance
  • The Loneliest Night of the Week
  • Unfinished Business
  • Your World, and Welcome to It
  • Stop or I'll Shoot
  • Dead Man's Gun
  • Drusilla
  • Moral Imperative
  • Hot Hot Hot
  • The Baby Store
  • Comeback
  • Flying Solo
  • ''Brothers''

    Series

Dev Conrad Series
  1. Sleeping Dogs
  2. Stranglehold
  3. Blindside
  4. Flashpoint
  5. ''Elimination''

    ''Jack Dwyer'' Series

  6. Rough Cut
  7. New Improved Murder
  8. Murder Straight Up
  9. Murder in the Wings
  10. The Autumn Dead
  11. A Cry of Shadows
  12. What the Dead Men Say
  13. The Reason Why
  • ''The Dwyer Trilogy''

    ''Tobin'' Series

  1. Murder in the Aisle
  2. ''Several Deaths Later''

    ''Jack Walsh'' Series

  3. ''The Night Remembers''

    ''Robert Payne'' Series

  4. Blood Moon
  5. Hawk Moon
  6. Harlot's Moon
  7. ''Voodoo Moon''

    ''Sam McCain'' Series

  8. The Day the Music Died
  9. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
  10. Wake Up Little Susie
  11. Save the Last Dance for Me
  12. Everybody's Somebody's Fool
  13. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
  14. Fools Rush In
  15. Ticket to Ride
  16. Bad Moon Rising
  17. ''Riders on the Storm''

    ''Dean Koontz Frankenstein'' series

From Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series :
  • Book No. 2 ''City of Night''

    Pen name books

As E.J. Gorman

  • The Marilyn Letters
  • The First Lady
  • Daughter of Darkness
  • ''Senatorial Privilege''

    As Daniel Ransom

  • Daddy's Little Girl
  • Toys in the Attic
  • Night Caller
  • The Forsaken
  • The Babysitter
  • Nightmare Child
  • The Serpent's Kiss
  • The Long Midnight
  • Fugitive Stars
  • The Zone Soldiers
As Robert David Chase
  • Graveyard
  • Ghost Hunters
  • ''Werewolf: A True Story of Demonic Possession''

    Graphic novels

  • Kolchak: Dawn of the Demons
  • Gut-Shot
  • ''Cage of Night''

    Anthologies

  • The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction
  • Westeryear
  • Stalkers: 19 Original Tales By the Masters of Terror
  • Cat Crimes
  • Invitation to Murder
  • Dark Crimes 1
  • Solved
  • Dark Crimes 2
  • Predators
  • An Anthology of Angels
  • Night Screams
  • Cat Crimes Through Time with Martin H. Greenberg
  • Once Upon a Crime
  • The Big Book of Noir
  • The UFO Files
  • Murder Most Scottish
  • Star Colonies
  • The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories
  • The Blue and the Gray Undercover: All New Civil War Spy Adventures
  • Wolf Woman Bay and 9 More of the Finest Crime and Mystery Novellas of the Year!
  • Between the Dark and the Daylight and 27 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year
  • ''Four Halloweens''

    Non-Fiction

  • The Fine Art of Murder: The Mystery Reader's Indispensable Companion
  • The Dean Koontz Companion
  • ''"They're Here …": Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Tribute''